Dover Energy Advisory Committee Hosts Sustainability Film Series

It is not too often that free, entertaining and intelligence go hand in hand. This upcoming February and March are exceptions to that thought. Beginning February 1, the Dover Public Library will host a free film series, Green Movies: Sustainable Futures. The series, which is being presented by the Dover Energy Advisory Committee, with the support of the New Hampshire Charitable Foundation, the Planning Department, and Friends of the Dover Public Library are attempts to drive dialog and get viewers to discuss the impact out choices have on the world around us.

These 5 films all focus on the choices we make and the community we all belong to; they explore the ways that our choices affect the health of the planet and its ability to survive.

I was very happy to be asked to assist in sponsoring the series, because it is a great way for the group to help educate the public and to learn more about something we all can do: be more sustainable. Its not reading a book and then pondering, and its not sitting in a dark theater and soaking in the movie. The movie is a starting off point for discussion and change we can all benefit from.

The films begin at 6:30 on the second floor of the Library, 73 Locust Street, Dover. Admission to all films is free. Coffee, refreshments, and discussion will be provided. For more information and watch trailers, visit greendovermovies.wordpress.com.

So, what are the five films?

February 1: Tapped
February 22: Blue Vinyl
March 8: A Crude Awakening
March 22: Radiant City
April 5: Dirt

About the films:

Tapped is about the struggle for public control over water resources and is set in part in Maine, where local activists were able to defeat efforts by the Nestlé Corporation to buy and sell their community’s water. Warning: this movie may prompt you to stop buying bottled water.

Blue Vinyl tells the story of a woman’s reaction to her parents’ decision to recover their Long Island home with vinyl. With humor and persistence, she travels to Louisiana and Venice, Italy, to learn about the toxic legacy of vinyl siding.

A Crude Awakening traces the story of oil, from its discovery in the late 19th century to the present. We have constructed our way of life, from personal automobiles to ubiquitous plastics, on oil. Unfortunately, some day it will run out.

Radiant City is the story of a suburban community which is putting on a play about suburbia. Scenes of family tensions over the play are intercut with comments by architects and designers on the kinds of towns and cities people do best in.

Dirt is a love song to Earth’s radiant skin, the soil on which our lives succeed or fail. It travels the world to find out what’s happening to our topsoil and the actions, large and small, that people are taking to restore and enrich it.

I encourage everyone to grab a partner, parent, friend, lover, whomever and come to the DPL and check it out. As Bill Cosby used to say on the Fat Albert TV show, if you're not careful you might learn something, while you watch entertaining movies.